InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Spark ❯ Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11

 

Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book

 

 

Kagome eyed the rosary with silent wonder. It had been nearly three years since she'd held it. Of course, with the sight of it, came the small pang of guilt. She really had abused the thing. The Great Argument Settler. The Grudge Keeper. Maybe that was the reason her and InuYasha fizzled instead of burned. Sighing, she slipped it in her pocket.

 

Kaede watched her then finally spoke. “What need have ye of it after all this time?”

 

Damn. And here Kagome thought the old miko wouldn't ask, and she'd get off scott free. “I have a bit of a…dilemma. Say, Kaede?”

 

“Yes, child?”

 

“Do you think this would work on a full-blooded demon? A really powerful one? Who was really, really angry?”

 

“What have ye done now, child?” Kaeda asked, sounding older than the last time Kagome had spoken with her.

 

Sucking in a deep breath, Kagome readied herself for the explanation. Except that she felt her problem growing nearer.

 

“What is this aura?” Kaede whispered. “It feels familiar.”

 

“It should,” Kagome grumbled.

 

Sesshomaru pushed aside the curtain to Kaede's hut. At first, he looked murderous, lips curled just slightly over his teeth, his youki out before him like a dark prickly wave, his long hair stirred by the sheer power of it. Kaede gasped.

 

But as soon as he turned his gaze to Kagome, the youki receded, the snarl disappeared. He reached out a trembling hand to her, his mask of indifference replaced by confusion…and…hurt. “I have a gift for you,” he whispered, voice husky.

Kagome laughed nervously. “I have one for you too. I think maybe you should um…put mine on first. I know you said you wouldn't, but when I said this was the only way I'd go through with it, I was serious.”

 

Her words didn't even create a ripple of emotion on his face. It didn't even look like he understood her. Slowly, body tensing, Kagome withdrew the rosary from her pocket, the clinking of the beads making her flinch. “I'm going to put it on you now…okay?”

 

He moved his hair away from his neck. “If it pleases you.”

 

The beads glowed a bright purple, then separated. They swirled around him for a moment then came together around his throat. He touched them lightly with his fingers, a slight frown on his face.

 

Kagome turned to Kaede who was watching everything transpire with her mouth slightly agape. “Well? Will it work?”

 

“I can't say, child. Ye will has to be strong. Strong enough to overpower one such as him.”

 

If Sesshomaru had even heard Kaede, he made no indication. Instead, he reached into his haori and pulled out a delicate silver chain. He held it out to her. “This is for you.”

 

She supposed it was sweet of him to get her a gift. Frankly, she was just relieved it wasn't a severed head or something equally grizzly. The chain was actually quite pretty. When she reached out to take it, he pulled back slightly.

 

“Allow me?”

 

Kagome shrugged. “Sure.”

 

Kaede's sharp warning came too late. As soon as Sesshomaru looped the silver chain around her neck, it sank into her skin, tingling with magic.

 

Kagome scratched at her throat. “Whoa! Hey! Where'd it go?” She narrowed her eyes. “That had a spell on it, didn't it?”

He closed the small space between them, eyes searching her face. “Yes it did, Kagome,” he said, drawing out her name.

 

She blinked. If it had a spell, she certainly didn't feel any differently. “Well?” she asked, tapping her foot. “What's it supposed to do?”

 

“I sensed a demonic aura from it, child,” Kaede piped up. Sesshomaru shot her a wicked glare.

 

“Kagome,” he said again, so sensually that she drew in a tiny breath.

 

She still didn't feel anything. “What?”

 

He frowned, not even bothering to try to hide his displeasure. “Impossible,” he said.

 

She put her hands on her hips. “What's impossible?”

 

The frown was replaced by a slow spreading sly grin. A grin. On Sesshomaru's face. It was creepy. The only time she'd seen such a look, he'd been about to kill something. “Well, well, little miko. It seems that a spell wasn't necessary. You…are a liar.”

 

“No I am not!”

 

He nodded. “Oh, yes you are.”

 

She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “Nope.”

 

“Enough!” he barked, taking her by the arm. Kaede sputtered and commanded for him to halt, but it was obvious Sesshomaru was having none of it. He hauled Kagome behind him, dragging her out of the village and into the fringe of the forest.

 

Kagome clawed at his hand, pulled and tugged, but he still held her wrist, looking down on her with a bemused smirk. “Let go of me! You can't just drag me around whenever the mood strikes you!” She jabbed a finger as hard as she could into his bicep. His nicely sculpted, hard as a rock bicep. “You know…I am really sick of men trying to boss me around!”

 

“You have feelings for this Sesshomaru,” he said softly.

 

“Huh? How do you figure?” she asked indignantly, her blush betraying her words. She didn't care for the way he was looking at her, as if he, and only he, were clued in on the world's most hilarious joke. Somehow she got the sense she was the butt of said joke.

 

A clawed finger tapped the hollow of her throat making her jump. “The necklace only works if you have no feelings for this Sesshomaru. It did not work.”

 

She gave him a nervous chuckle. “Well maybe it's a dud.”

 

He arched a perfect brow. Did he pluck? “A dud?”

 

Kagome tried to free herself from his grip again. It didn't work. “Yeah, you know…maybe it just didn't work. A dud.”

 

He snorted. “I highly doubt it.”

 

“I don't have feelings for you, Sesshomaru. I'm sorry, but I don't.” Kagome said it as coldly as she possibly could.

 

Her statement didn't seem to faze him any. He leaned forward, licking his lips. The small action sent shivers down her entire body. Maybe her body knew something she didn't.

 

“So,” he said slowly, softly. “You feel nothing when I do this?” He kissed her. It wasn't lust-crazed or hungry. It was slow and thorough. His tongue didn't ravage her mouth, he kept it behind his teeth. His lips just moved over hers gently until her knees nearly gave out and her head swam.

 

Sesshomaru pulled away, looking quite smug.

 

Blinking rapidly, Kagome cleared her throat. “Nope. Not a thing.” It was the lamest lie she'd ever told. Her voice even stabbed her in the back by cracking.

 

The smug look was replaced by cold fury. “You lie! I smell it.”

 

Damn his nose!

 

He kissed her again. The same slow torture. Unlike InuYasha's clumsy kiss, that same kiss she'd longed to have for three long years, this kiss ignited her. There were fireworks. Hell, there were nuclear explosions.

 

She pulled away that time, flushed in embarrassment and desire. “Okay, okay! I might…I might have a tiny crush on you.” She couldn't meet his gaze. “But that's as far as I'll let it go. I mean, we consummate the spell, and you'll go back to hating me. Then what? I've had my heart broken once this week. I don't think I want to deal with that again.”

 

He drew her close. His armor was cold. “Yes. It is folly.”

 

Kagome nodded.

 

“All the same, you must free this Sesshomaru from this curse.”

 

She looked up at him. His hand rested on the rosary.

 

Kagome sniffed. “I know. Let's get it over with then.”

 

Sesshomaru shook his head. “No, miko. Not like that. We shall do this my way.”

 

SSSS

 

When Rin opened her eyes, she wasn't quite sure what she expected to see.

 

She didn't expect, however, to wake in a sumptuous mound of silks and cushions, her skin oiled and perfumed, wearing a kimono that looked as expensive as it felt. What had happened?

 

The last thing she remembered was a feeling, a great rush of power, Raiju enveloped in a ball of light, and then she collapsed.

 

Rin sat up quickly, wincing as the room pitched wildly about her. Keeping her eyes tightly closed, she moved her legs until her toes brushed the floor. Slowly and carefully, she raised herself off the futon.

 

“Not so fast, girl.” Raiju's voice, sounding thinner and a little more thick than the last time she heard, said from the deep shadows where the lantern's light couldn't reach.

 

Rin only smiled. He couldn't scare her now. Willing it forward, Rin brought her power singing to the surface. Her entire body took on a fierce glow.

 

“Now, now. Enough of that. You've hurt me badly enough, my dear. I won't touch you.”

 

Her power fizzled. “Oh?” she asked.

 

“That's right. Had I any idea you were a powerful miko, I wouldn't have…done this. Sesshomaru never mentioned it.”

 

Rin hanged her head. “I doubt he even knew about it. I didn't know.”

 

Raiju snorted. “He should've! I sensed something, but then…I'm not as powerful as your lord. It lay dormant in your child's body, only aging could've brought it forth. But I can't believe Sesshomaru had no idea. He simply didn't care.”

 

Her eyes filled with tears. “That isn't true! Sesshomaru-sama cares!”

 

Raiju rose from the chair in the corner, emerging from the shadows into the soft light of the lantern. Rin gasped, her hand coming to her mouth. His handsome face was red and blistered on one side, his long hair burned away. His face was twisted in pain, his eyes no longer glowing, but a watered down yellow green.

 

Shakily, she rose to her feet. “Did I…did I do that to you?”

 

Making a disgusted sound, Raiju waived his hand. “It is of no consequence.”

 

She didn't feel sorry, just amazed that she had that kind of power. “Does it hurt?”

 

He tried to smile, pulling the raw skin of the left side of his face. “Oh yes. Very much.”

 

Still, she wasn't afraid. If he so much as thought about touching her, she would purify him. She could, she knew it. Rin could feel it. The polarity of their auras clashed, tingling her skin. His thick youki and her pure soul.

 

“Sesshomaru has fallen in love with his half-brother's woman,” Raiju said off-handedly.

 

Rin took a step back, her calves hitting the futon. “What?” Her heart was filled with broken glass. Every beat shredded it. She felt weak, as though she were bleeding out with every pulse.

 

“Even now, his half-breed brother InuYasha comes to take you from me…to keep you for himself. To get back at Sesshomaru for stealing his love away.”

 

“No!” Rin whispered, letting her tears slide down her cheeks. She slumped back down on the futon, a cloud of sweet perfume rising around her.

 

“Sesshomaru has no intention of rescuing you, Rin,” Raiju said softly as he approached her. “But…I see my folly now. I treated you cruelly…and have been punished.”

 

Suddenly he made a strangled sound, his face screwing up in agony. Raiju dropped to his knees, blood staining his lips. Rin could feel his youki waver. Was he dying? Had she killed him?

 

Rin crawled over to him and reached out a trembling hand.

 

Raiju jerked away with a snarl, his eyes milky and dull. “I don't want your pity! Be proud of your victory, girl. I've lived for three millennia, yet a mere wisp of a child has destroyed me. Your power is insidious. It works on my youki slowly, purifying it. It won't let me heal.” He wouldn't look at her, his chin to his chest. What was left of his glorious hair fell over his face so that she couldn't see the slow sly smile reveal the tips of his pointed fangs. “Now go. You are free to leave. I would apologize for my terrible actions, and though I had my reasons…and they were honorable reasons, girl…I doubt you'd forgive me.”

 

He isn't coming to save me, Rin thought over and over again. Her Sesshomaru-sama loved another. And he wasn't coming for her after all. He'd discarded her, just as Jaken had always said he would. She was just another stinking human to him. A fly. An annoyance. A burden.

 

She clenched her fists. But she wasn't any of those things! Not anymore. She was strong. A miko with great power. A woman, no longer a helpless child afraid of nightmares of wolves.

 

“I forgive you,” she said softly. It felt powerful to forgive. To be merciful. She wondered if that was how Sesshomaru felt when he'd revived her with Tenseiga. To do it just because he could.

 

She laid her hand on the top of Raiju's head. “I'm going to heal you.”

 

SSSS

 

InuYasha unwound the bandages on Jaken's now scarred green flesh. He laughed. “If possible, you're even uglier than before.”

 

“It matters not. I'll be dead as soon as Sesshomaru-sama comes to his senses and learns that I let Lord Raiju steal Rin away,” the imp said miserably. InuYasha could've sworn the imp's lamp-like eyes were filled with tears.

 

“Feh! That asshole even kicked my ass. Besides, I didn't know that Sesshomaru gave a shit about anyone but himself. What's that kid to him anyway?”

 

Jaken gave him a nervous laugh. “I shouldn't tell you. No. I won't tell you. But Rin is a very special girl. Very special indeed.”

 

InuYasha narrowed his eyes. His hand shot out and closed over Jaken's scrawny throat. He gave a small squeeze enjoying how his brother's retainer's eyes bugged out. “Yer gonna tell me, or I'll pop yer stinkin' head right off!”

 

“Fine! Fine! You horrid brute!” Jaken squawked.

 

InuYasha released him, and he rubbed his neck.

“Rin is a miko…a powerful one. Her powers are simply dormant until she reaches womanhood.”

 

InuYasha snorted. “Is that all? So what?”

 

Jaken stamped his foot. “So what?! Just think if Raiju had a miko as a wife and ally! He would surely come after Sesshomaru-sama then! I swear, the Northern Lord has done nothing but be a thorn in Sesshomaru-sama's side for a hundred years. All over that one little incident with his sister-“ Too late, Jaken slapped his hands over his mouth.

 

Grinning, InuYasha cracked his knuckles. “Aha! I knew Sesshomaru did something piss that guy off. So what'd he do? Knock up his sister and refuse to marry her?”

 

Jaken paled.

 

InuYasha's jaw dropped open. “He did…didn't he?”

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: Just a notice…the rating of this fic goes to NC-17 next chapter. There will be a lemon. A really lengthy naughty lemon. I even got red in the face while writing it. Whee!

 

For FFNET and media miner peeps…you will have to view that part of the story (provided you are of the age to do so) on singlespark or affnet. Kiska on both of those.

 

Also, thank you for the reviews. Writing original fiction and getting that published IS intensely gratifying, but I never know how my readers FEEL about the stories. So, in a way, even though I'm not making any profit, it's almost better! :P I really love and appreciate every review I get. Take care!

 

P.S. For those who asked, I am now up to Chapter 18 on Spark. Up to Chapter 5 on What a Mess and up to chapter 6 on yet another fic I've not posted yet.